Instant reactions: Week eight

My reactions from the eighth week of the NFL season. 

Carolina 31, Tampa Bay 13

That Cam Newton kid isn't a bad dual-threat quarterback. In fact, Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson, he was the first. 

San Francisco 42, Jacksonville 10

Denver, take note. This is how a good team is supposed to beat the Jaguars. 

New Orleans 35, Buffalo 17

Drew Brees ended this game early. The Bills are undoubtedly missing EJ Manuel. 

New England 27, Miami 17

The Dolphins spent their offseason trying to beat Tom Brady. For one half, it looked like it worked. 

Giants 15, Philadelphia 7

This once-proud rivalry looked more like a Bucs-Jags game. 

Kansas City 23, Cleveland 17

The Browns looked as good as a 3-5 team can against an 8-0 team. It was a good game between two of the AFC's top defenses. 

Detroit 31, Dallas 30

There was not a more exciting final minute of football anywhere this weekend. The Lions only won because Dallas choked in the end, but Matthew Stafford sure had a clutch game. 

Cincinnati 49, Jets 9

The Bengals put on a division champion's performance against a surprisingly decent Jets squad. This could be a signature game in Cincy's America's Game documentary. 

Arizona 27, Atlanta 13

The Cardinals defense crushed Atlanta's will Sunday afternoon. 

Oakland 21, Pittsburgh 18

Oakland should never be counted as an underdog at home against Pittsburgh. 

Denver 45, Washington 21

For three quarters, Denver appeared to be a mortal football team. Suddenly Peyton Manning took charge and the Broncos destroyed Washington late game. 

Night recaps to come. 

Instant reactions: Week seven

Reactions from the seventh week of the NFL regular season

Seattle 34, Arizona 22
The Seahawks are getting it done with Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, Sidney Rice and just about anyone else.

San Diego 24, Jacksonville 6
Anyone surprised by this one? Moving on...

Atlanta 31, Tampa Bay 23
These really aren't your older brother's Falcons, are they? A home game against the woeful Buccaneers should not have been this close.

Buffalo 23, Miami 21
Apparently Doug Marrone was right to start Thad Lewis. The win keeps Buffalo in the thick of the AFC East race.

Carolina 30, St. Louis 15
Neither of these teams is easy to figure out this year. The Rams are hoping Sam Bradford isn't hurt for long.

Cincinnati 27, Detroit 24
It's not pretty, but the Bengals keep winning and still hold strong to first place in the AFC North.

Washington 45, Chicago 41
The Chicago Bears, since starting the season 3-0, are on a 1-3 streak. The latest loss likely reminded Chicago's opposing quarterback of his high-scoring college days.

Jets 30, New England 27 (OT)
The Patriots have lost two of their last three games. The AFC East race could be getting quite interesting.

Pittsburgh 19, Baltimore 16
Why does this rivalry never fail to disappoint? In a sport that's progressively transformed to bigger offensive turnouts each week, it's nice to see a defensive, low-scoring affair.

San Francisco 31, Tennessee 17
Jake Locker came back about a half too soon. The 49ers need every win they can get to stay in the NFC West race.

Kansas City 17, Houston 16
The Texans have shown that the Chiefs are beatable. Regardless, Kansas City will go into the Denver game undefeated.

Green Bay 31, Cleveland 13
I'm still not a fan of the Green Bay throwback uniforms, but they looked good wearing them from a football perspective.

Indianapolis 39, Denver 33

Indianapolis is once again the team to beat in the AFC. Denver can beat the Chiefs at Invesco, but the Broncos might not have a good visit to Kansas City. 

Giants 23, Minnesota 7

It is sad when the play of the game comes from the losing team. Josh Freeman out-Eli'd Eli, which is why the Giants won. 

Clayton's fantasy update:

Both teams suffered horrific losses this week. I'm about to say goodbye to Romo No-mo's entire set of starting skill players, who have done next to nothing in the past two weeks. No-mo fell to 3-3-1 in the standard league. 

A bye-week-depleted Fear The Llama fell to previously one-win Da Drug Deala. Da Drug Deala had five of nine starters in double digits as FTL dearly missed Drew Brees and Matt Bryant, among others. FTL drops to 3-4 with the loss. 

College football shakeup and top 25

Normally this is a Facebook post, but so much happened that I must put in my two cents.

What a weekend of college football. There were so many great games that it was almost hard to keep track if you didn't know exactly what was happening at every moment. Despite all of the upsets, one thing remains clear: Alabama is clearly still king of the college football world.

Let's start with the SEC, where South Carolina, Georgia and LSU all fell to unranked teams. The common denominator? Each underdog played at home. Kudos to Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss for not being afraid to play these SEC giants tough.

Missouri beat Florida as it should have, even though everyone favored the Gators to win. The Tigers are now on track to win the SEC East and be the first of the recent Big 12 transfers in the conference championship game. Sorry, Johnny Manziel.

Speaking of Texas A&M, what a classic SEC upset Auburn put together. The SEC fundamentals of ground and pound, defense and low scores...oh, wait. This was your regular modern college football barn burner. Still, Auburn impressed on defense in the waning seconds, while the aforementioned Manziel tried to win the game all by himself. From a first down inside the 20, A&M was all the way back at midfield by the time downs turned over. What a finish.

Over in Tuscaloosa, Alabama had a lazy night. AJ McCarron and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix were picking bacon and pork chops out of their teeth during plays as the Tide had its way with Arkansas.

Moving on to the game of the night (that really wasn't), Florida State beat Clemson as many expected. What no one expected was the Seminoles' dominance. If Bama hadn't bulldozed the Razorbacks, Florida State should be receiving attention as the top team in the nation. Chances are Florida State will remain number three until Oregon or Alabama improbably slip up somewhere along the way.

In the teams-that-struggled-but-managed-to-somehow-win category, Ohio State is most prevalent. Iowa could make some noise in the Big Ten race. Other teams to make the distinction of almost-weren't include Oklahoma, Miami, Texas Tech and Wofford.

The Terriers, number 13 in FCS, struggled against 1-6 conference foe Western Carolina. The 2013 Catamounts are best-known for their 62-3 trouncing by Auburn last week. In other words, an easy win for Wofford. The only reason the Terriers won is because Western is so God-awful; with two fourth-quarter drives that made it to the opposing five-yard-line, the Cats failed to convert each time.

One more note before I get to the 25s, I'm beginning to wonder why the Baylor Bears have not gotten more national attention. Baylor is consistently putting up 60+ points per game and allowing hardly anything in the depleted-but-still-relevant Big 12. The Bears should be top five this week with a combination of their dominance and everyone else losing.

FBS Top 25
1. Alabama 7-0
2. Oregon 7-0
3. Florida State 6-0
4. Ohio State 7-0
5. Baylor 6-0
6. Miami 6-0
7. Stanford 6-1
8. Missouri 7-0
9. Clemson 6-1
10. Texas Tech 7-0
11. Fresno State 6-0
12. Oklahoma 6-1
13. UCLA 5-1
14. Texas A&M 5-2
15. Virginia Tech 6-1
16. Oklahoma State 5-1
17. Auburn 6-1
18. Northern Illinois 7-0
19. LSU 6-2
20. Louisville 6-1
21. Wisconsin 5-2
22. Michigan 6-1
23. South Carolina 5-2
24. Michigan State 6-1
25. Notre Dame 5-2

FCS Top 25
1. North Dakota State 7-0
2. Eastern Illinois 6-1
3. Eastern Washington 5-2
4. Montana State 5-2
5. Towson 7-1
6. Fordham 8-0
7. Coastal Carolina 7-0
8. McNeese State 6-1
9. Sam Houston State 5-2
10. Montana 6-1
11. Maine 6-1
12. Youngstown State 7-1
13. Wofford 5-2
14. Bethune-Cookman 6-1
15. Northern Iowa 4-3
16. Lehigh 6-1
17. Northern Arizona 5-2
18. Villanova 4-3
19. James Madison 5-2
20. Central Arkansas 4-3
21. Samford 5-2
22. South Dakota State 4-4
23. Tennessee State 7-1
24. New Hampshire 3-3
25. Georgia Southern 4-2

Instant reactions: Week six

My NFL reactions from the sixth week of the season

Chicago 27, Giants 21
Any other season, this would just be another dominant defensive performance by Chicago. This season, it's Eli and the Giants giving away yet another game.

St. Louis 38, Houston 13
Houston, we have a problem. 2-4, third in the AFC South, and two quarterbacks throwing interception after interception. Time to call up David Carr again?

Green Bay 19, Baltimore 17
This was a disappointingly dull game between two perennial playoff participants who are under-performing expectations this year.

Philadelphia 31, Tampa Bay 20
Nick Foles kept the Eagles in the thick of the NFC East race by taking advantage of the worst team in the NFC in 2013.

Pittsburgh 19, Jets 6
If you didn't watch the first five weeks of the NFL season, this game went exactly as expected. The question to watch in the next two or three weeks is which of these teams is back to playing as expected in August.

Kansas City 24, Oakland 7
I don't want to take anything away from Kansas City's 6-0 start, but the only halfway decent teams the Chiefs have played so far are Dallas and Tennessee. The Cowboys would've won if the game was in the Jerry Dome, and the Titans would have won had they been playing with their starting QB. The Chiefs will get lucky again next week against a flustered Houston squad.

Carolina 35, Minnesota 10
No story from this game is more important than the tragedy in Adrian Peterson's personal life this week, especially since neither of these teams is relevant in 2013. Prayers to AP and his family.

Detroit 31, Cleveland 17
The Lions remain atop the NFC North. The Browns are still in the thick of the AFC North race, but this loss is a definite setback in their surprising season.

Cincinnati 27, Buffalo 24 (OT)
The Bengals got some help from the NFC North and stand alone atop the AFC North. That fourth quarter comeback by the Bills should raise a concern or two about Cincy in close-game situations.

Denver 35, Jacksonville 19
The Broncos started looking ahead to next week's showdown in Indianapolis before the game started. If they had actually been invested in playing the Jaguars, the final would've been along the lines of Auburn's 62-3 college win over Western Carolina Saturday.

Seattle 20, Tennessee 13
Had Jake Locker not hurt his hip, the Titans would be 5-1 and celebrating Seattle's first home loss since Christmas Eve 2011. This game also would've cemented the AFC South's dominance over the NFC West.

San Francisco 32, Arizona 20
Wouldn't it have been something had the Cardinals pulled off the upset? The Niners are still far from looking like the squad that won last year's NFC Championship.

New England 30, New Orleans 27
Tom Brady keeps on winning. It's disgusting.

Dallas 31, Washington 16
Unless you're playing against Peyton Manning, you'll generally win if you score a touchdown in each quarter, as Dallas did Sunday night. This is a solid division win for the Cowboys.

San Diego 19, Indianapolis 9
Remember earlier in the season when I said the Chargers had a dark horse shot at the playoffs? This game proves it.

Clayton's fantasy update:
Fear The Llama got back to .500 with an upset win over the Keith Bulluck Taxi Company. Monster performances by Knowshon Moreno (28.4 points) and Reggie Bush (19.5) knocked off the last undefeated team in the adjusted league.

Meanwhile, horrific performances by every member of Romo No-mo dropped the team to 3-2-1 on the season. As of yet, neither team has garnered the same result in the same week as the other.

Instant reactions: Week five

My instant reactions from the fifth week of NFL action.

Cleveland 37, Buffalo 24
Yes, the Browns are first in the AFC North and 3-2 for the first time in forever. But take into account that the quarterback Cleveland beat was in his first meaningful NFL action and Brian Hoyer is out for the year, and it now becomes ever so slightly less sweet.

Cincinnati 13, New England 6
The Patriots looked like a team with a corps of unproven receivers. It wasn't enough to fall to the Jets, but Cincy is no New York.

New Orleans 26, Chicago 18
The Bears have four days to turn things around from two straight losses. The good news? They have four days to prepare for the winless Giants.

St. Louis 34, Jacksonville 20
The Rams are not playing anywhere near as well as they should be. Allowing the Jaguars to hang around until close to the end of the game proves this.

Green Bay 22, Detroit 9
No one in the NFC North has been able to stop Detroit this year. Except the Packers. Their bye week last week was opportune.

Baltimore 26, Miami 23
The defending champs earned their first road win of the season. The Dolphins now have a bye to dwell on back-to-back losses to two playoff-caliber teams.

Indianapolis 34, Seattle 28
The Colts gave the Seahawks a taste of their own medicine, and now hold an outright lead in the AFC South and a 2-0 mark over the top two teams in the NFC West. As with the Colts and Niners, these two teams will likely have a Super Bowl rematch within the next four years.

Philadelphia 36, Giants 21
The Giants can't even win a home game within their dismal division. It's time to start looking at Jadeveon Clowney...

Kansas City 26, Tennessee 17
The Kansas City Chiefs are the second of three 5-0 teams in the NFL in 2013. Last year, they were the worst team in the NFL. How things change.

Arizona 22, Carolina 6
Don't look now, but Bruce Arians and the Cardinals are 3-2. Bruce Arians and the Cardinals beware: 3-2 could turn into 3-5 easily before the bye with games at San Francisco, and at home against Seattle and Atlanta.

Denver 51, Dallas 48
Tony Romo gave us the blueprint for beating the Broncos: Out-perform Peyton Manning with a home-field advantage. Unfortunately for the rest of the league, the only two other quarterbacks on Denver's schedule capable of doing so are Andrew Luck (Week 7) and Tom Brady (Week 12).

San Francisco 34, Houston 3
The Texans looked like an expansion team and Matt Schaub was more like Jamarcus Russell. Houston has now lost three straight, and is below .500 for the first time since 2010.

Oakland 27, San Diego 17
Somewhere, Al Davis is telling the Raiders, "Yeah, I screwed you over for the past decade, but this Pryor kid who was my last pick ever is going to get you places. Don't let him go."

Monday night recap to come.